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New puppy or not, gotta eat. Chuck roasts were on sale this week, so I bought a five pound one, cut in half and marinated one half and froze the other. I threw the corn in the slow-cooker during the last 15 minutes an it was perfectly steamed.

It’s that time of year again when fresh, local peaches are everywhere and are a part of every meal at my house, so that had to be half of tonight’s exchange. The other half was inspired by JeffreyW once again tempting my taste buds with his pepper jellies. It’s been a crazy week here, between my birthday, work and getting the house puppy proofed there hasn’t been a lot of time for cooking, but tonight’s featured recipe is quick, easy and full of seasonal flavors. And peaches, lots of peaches.

Speaking of the puppy, I have no new pictures for you, but he’ll be here next week, so I’m pretty sure, mostly positive, even fairly certain, there will be puppy pictures by week’s end. On to the recipes…

If peaches are not your thing, JeffreyW has been busy making some of my favorite jelly. I love pepper jelly with cream cheese on crackers. Yum. And I envy his gardening and canning skills.

Peaches don’t have to sweet to be delicious, they can be spicy, too. You can make a nice Peach Salsa (recipe here) or a tasty Peach Chutney to use with Grilled Pork Chops (complete dinner menu and recipes here).

Peaches are tasty with fish and Kirk Spencer has a great Peach Tilapiarecipe here.

How about you, what’s on the menu this weekend? Anyone going to hangout and watch the meteor shower? Hit the comments with recipes and whatever.

The featured recipe tonight is Spinach Chicken Salad with Spicy Peach Dressing and it can be prepped ahead of time and makes a perfect dinner on one of those late summer nights when it’s still too hot to cook. The dressing will easily last a week in the refrigerator. And you can grill then refrigerate the chicken a night or two before when grilling another meal.

Spicy Peach Dressing

2 large peaches, peeled, pitted and quartered

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro (or Italian parsley)

salt and pepper to taste

1 jalapeño or other hot pepper, halved and seeded

1/2 cup olive oil

Purée all of the ingredients, except oil, in a blender or food processor until smooth. Continue to blend, on low, while adding oil slowly. Mix until well blended. Refrigerate. Shake well before serving.

Spinach Chicken Salad

3 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

1/2 small sweet yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 lb cleaned baby spinach leaves

1 cup chopped, toasted walnuts

1 peach, peeled, pitted and thinly sliced

3 ounces crumbled bleu cheese or chevre

Place the chicken in a plastic zipper bag with ½ cup of dressing. Marinate 2 hours in refrigerator. Remove chicken, discard marinade and grill until cooked through (170 degrees at center).

Toss the spinach, onion, walnuts and cheese with the remaining 3/4 cup dressing. Slice the grilled chicken and arrange on top of the salad.

It has been a crazy week. First it began with my birthday plans expanding from an afternoon of fun, to several days of fun (I have awesome friends) to a call from the puppy breeder to hear more about my boy and learned that pick up date had been moved up. Am I ready? No idea. Puppy is a new concept for me. All my other Danes were rescued at 6 months or older, came fully housebroken and with few issues. But I am beyond excited…

Here is a repeat of the very first recipe I posted for Thursday Night Menus years ago. This recipe was my first time making a chutney and we threw it on pork because that is what we were cooking that night. It was a perfect match. That started the whole peach week idea a year later when peaches were in season again.

Last year, weather and disease limited the peach crop in Colorado, so I didn’t do much peach cooking, but this year looks like a bumper crop. Once I’m done just eating them straight from the ‘peach bowl’ I’ll start cooking with them again.

On the board tonight:

Grilled Pork Chops

Peach Chutney

Green beans in Butter

Couscous

Grilled Pork Chops w/Peach Chutney

4 pork chops, medium thickness

½ tsp crushed garlic

salt & pepper to taste

2 tsp olive oil

½ cup Peach Chutney

Mix together garlic, salt, pepper and oil and brush over both sides of chops. Grill over medium-high coals for 5 to 7 minutes on one side, turn and top with ¼ of chutney on each chop. Grill additional 5 to 7 minutes, until cooked to desired doneness. Serve immediately, with additional chutney if desired.

It’s been much too hot to cook over the last two weeks and with the fairly consistent afternoon showers, grilling is out. So I pulled out the slow-cooker and have been making some nice main courses. I had a craving for a roasted chicken (can you imagine?! It’s 101 degrees out and I want to roast something!), so I put thighs (bone-in, skin on) in the slow-cooker, on high, with some seasoning and in 4 hours had nicely ‘roasted’ chicken. Served with a fresh salad and tomato slices.

After that, I decided that a slow-cooker meal would be a nice idea for this week’s dinner menu. This one is full of exotic flavors and fresh vegetables. I put green beans on the menu, but whatever catches your eye in the garden or farm stand would do just as well.

And if you have peaches available, use them instead of tropical fruit cocktail.

On the board tonight:

Island Ribs

Marinate overnight, Slow-Cooker

Pineapple Pilaf

Green Beans

Tropical Fruit w/coconut and ginger ale

Island Ribs

Slow-Cooker

5-6 lbs pork ribs

¼ cup sugar

1 tsp salt

½ cup water

1 tbsp lemon or lime juice

½ cup ketchup

½ cup soy sauce

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 to 3 tsp ground ginger

¼ to ½ tsp red pepper flakes (opt)

Slow-Cooker

Night before, rub salt and sugar on pork ribs and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, put ½ cup water in slow-cooker along with ribs. Mix together remaining ingredients and pour onto ribs. Cook according to manufacturer’s directions (usually 8-10 hours on low) until meat is tender and pulls from the bone.

Note: Depending on your slow-cooker size, you may have to cut the ribs into sections that fit.

Pineapple Pilaf

1 cup rice

drained pineapple juice and enough water to make 2 cups

2 tsp butter

6 green onions, chopped

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground ginger

8 oz pineapple chunks, drained

saucepan, skillet

Add rice and liquid to saucepan, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer until all water is absorbed.

Heat butter in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, walnuts, raisins, salt & ginger; cook and stir 2 to 4 minutes or until onions are tender. Add rice and pineapple; stir and heat thoroughly. Fluff with a fork before serving.

I linked to the grilled pork chops with last Friday’s Recipe Exchange, but thought it would be a good idea to go ahead and post the full menu today. For more peach recipes, check out Friday’s post here.

Grilled Pork Chops Peach ChutneyGreen BeansCouscousSliced Melon

Grilled Pork Chops w/Peach Chutney:

4 pork chops, medium thickness

½ tsp crushed garlic

salt & pepper to taste

2 tsp olive oil

½ cupPeach Chutney

Mix together garlic, salt, pepper and oil and brush over both sides of chops. Grill over medium-high coals for 5 to 7 minutes on one side, turn and top with ¼ of chutney on each chop. Grill additional 5 to 7 minutes, until cooked to desired doneness. Serve immediately, with additional chutney if desired.

It’s that time of year again. Palisade peaches are ripe and ready to eat. This year’s crop took a hit with a late snow in the spring, but still the stores and farm stands are full of them, though probably for a shorter time than previous years. As usual, they are deliciously sweet and juicy. I don’t necessarily need to do anything special with them – I usually just halve them and eat them with a spoon.

But when you buy a large box of them and you’re not fond of canning, it’s time to get creative. That’s why a few years ago I began to experiment and made two of my favorite things, Peach Chutney and Peach Salsa, the featured recipes tonight.

Now the strawberries…I couldn’t help it, they were sitting there, all red and fragrant, right next to the peaches. I had to buy 3 lbs. As always happens, before I can finish off all of them, they become overripe and then it’s time for this:

Strawberry Bread (recipe here). Quick, easy and oh, so full of strawberry flavor. But before things get that far, I am really enjoying just slicing peaches and strawberries and serving them together, tossed with a touch of sugar.

Back to the peaches. There are quite a few peach on the blog, all of which can be found here.

Tonight, besides asking what’s on your menu for the weekend, I’d also like make a request for some gluten-free recipes. I have a couple of friends who have been asking me for some and while I have a few, my recipe box is limited. If you’d email me (whats4dinnersolutions at live dot com) your recipes or post them in the comments, I’d like to do a future recipe exchange featuring gluten-free ideas. So hit the comments with your favorite peach and strawberry treats and any gluten-free ideas you’d like to share.

And finally, here are tonight’s featured recipes:

Either of these go well with chicken, fish or pork. The chutney goes especially well with grilled pork chops.

I thought we’d covered oven baked chicken before, but it turns out we have not. Since this is one of my favorite ways to make chicken, I was surprised. So that’s tonight’s theme. There are many different ways to go about making crispy baked chicken, I like Italian bread crumbs and panko for mine. Sometimes I soak the chicken in buttermilk for an hour and use that instead of egg to get the breadcrumbs to adhere. But if I’m in a hurry, it’s just the traditional recipe that I’ve posted below. And by traditional, I mean the one I grew up with, although my mom used rice crispies and cut up chicken pieces.

To change things up, you can add ingredients, like parmesan cheese, sesame seeds (there’s a recipe for that below), corn flakes or rice crispies. I saw a very interesting recipe recently that used toasted pecans, breadcrumbs and panko as the coating. I’m going to recipe test that one when I have a chance.

If you want something a little different, one of my favorites is Crispy Potato Chicken (recipe here).

Craving a Crispy and Spicy Chicken Sandwich? Here’s a recipe that comes close to a famous fast food joint.

And for something completely different, how about Baked Chicken with Peaches? (recipe here)

If you’re looking to barbecue chicken that’s not all scorched on the outside and raw inside, either on the grill or in the oven, I have some simple tips here.

Grilled, baked, fried or barbecued, what’s your favorite style of chicken? Do you have one of those favorite childhood foods you just have to make once a week or so? Share some recipes in the comments.

On to tonight’s two featured recipes:

Oven Fried Chicken

2 boneless chicken breasts

4 bonelss chicken thighs

1 cup Italian breadcrumbs

1 1/2 cups Panko

2 eggs, beaten

1 tbsp olive oil

¼ cup water**

salt & pepper to taste (at least 1/8 tsp each)

large mouth bowl, large plate and baking sheet lined with foil or parchment

Wash and pat chicken dry. In a large bowl, add water, eggs, oil, salt and pepper and beat well. Mix together and spread Italian breadcrumbs and panko evenly on large plate. Take chicken pieces one at a time and dip in egg wash, coating completely, dredge in bread crumbs until lightly coated on all sides. Place on baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes with foil covering the chicken, uncover and cook additional 15 minutes.

If you want to punch up the coating, you can add additional dry herbs to the breadcrumb mixture, I usually add some extra garlic and onion powder, a touch of cayenne, a bit of dried basil and rosemary.

This next recipe is great when the kids want chicken fingers, or it can be used with breasts and thighs as well, but you’ll need to increase the portions of breadcrumbs and sesame seeds to equal 3 cups.

Sesame Chicken Fingers

1/2 cup stone-ground mustard

1/2 cup honey

3 tbsp limejuice

salt & pepper

½ cup sesame seeds

1 cup Italian breadcrumbs

1 egg, beaten

¼ cup water

1 tbsp sesame oil or olive oil

1 to 1 ½ lbs chicken tenders

baking sheet, greased or lined with parchment or foil

2 bowls and 1 plate

Mix mustard, honey & limejuice in bowl, set aside. On plate mix salt, pepper, breadcrumbs & sesame seeds. In second bowl, add egg, water & oil. Dip chicken in egg wash then dredge in breadcrumbs. Line on baking sheet, bake at 425° for 10 minutes, turn, and bake an additional 5 to 10 minutes, should be crispy on all sides. Serve with mustard dipping sauce, waffle fries and a fresh vegetable tray for a quick and easy dinner.

I love reading Tes’ blog. She goes on the best adventures, cooks delicious looking food and has the most adorable family and she generously shares it with us. Today she posted a lovely peach lemonade recipe and I learned something new – it’s peach season in India, too. It looks so refreshing I had to share it with you:

Photo by Tes at Home (tesathome.com)

When peach season arrives, there are few regular routines I attend in my kitchen. I need to make a few jars delicious peach chutney, some peachy, chewy fruit leathers, and finally… there has to be this fresh peach lemonade to lighten up everything.

My peach lemonade is fuzz free, easy and quick. There’s no need of cooking the peach syrup. Everything is just fresh and raw so you will not lose any natural goodness or flavor at all.

Peaches have come early in Colorado. We have the most amazing peaches that come from Palisades on the western slope (where they also make some nice wines). I’ll be heading to the farmer stand tomorrow to pick a pretty box of peaches. Can’t wait. Nothing compares. Did I say “yum”?

If you click on the link you’ll see a bunch of peach recipes from Peach Week 2010.

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About TaMara

What's to say? I love to cook and I think families benefit from sitting down together for dinner every night. I ran What's 4 Dinner Solutions menus service for many year. Soon those menus, recipes and shopping lists will be a series of cookbooks. Guaranteed to make it easier for families to have a quick, delicious and nutritious dinner each night.